The Scott Carpenter Station was built by NASA as a research and demonstration vehicle, providing an under sea analog for the isolated environment of space. Mission One launched in September 1997 off the coast of Key Largo, Fla., and included a science mission linked to schools and classrooms, managed remotely from the Johnson Space Center, with NASA astronaut Dr. Bob Phillips among the crew testing life support systems and plant growth experiments. Mission Two was the NASA Challenge Mission, "flown" concurrently with space shuttle mission STS-95 (Senator John Glenn's return to flight). Filmmaker James Cameron and producer Eugene Roddenberry, II, were among the crew members during this 36-day mission.